The Implications of AI
Big things are on the horizon. So what does it mean for the average person?
We reported recently on the Insomnobot 3000 , a dream come true for anyone who can’t seem to get a good night’s sleep. This particular Chatbot functions on an SMS level, but you know, if I’m tossing and turning, it’s better than nothing.
Granted this is only one form of artificial intelligence. But the success of the Insomnobot begs the question: “In the bigger scheme of things, where does this AI journey end?” This is not a negative conjecture. You don’t need to look too far in to the future to see that we are on the brink of exciting times. But rather than posit on “what ifs,” why not let some of the latest robotic milestones speak for themselves.
Party like it’s 2025
Many tech professionals see the AI boom taking place in 2025. Why that year, I don’t know other than it creates a nice buffer between now and then. That said, depictions of robotics and artificial intelligence in popular culture often lean towards powerful anthropomorphic body types like those in Terminator or even better, the Will Smith film I, Robot.
Even though progress in this vein is promising (i.e. a robot concierge on cruise liners, a robotic salesclerk in Japan), most AI professionals feel that robo-evolution will be more cosmetic to the average consumer.
Tech’s take
Recently, Pew Research Center addressed the future of AI and solicited the feedback of a variety of tech professionals.
“By 2025 we may well be witnessing the disappearance of AI and robotics into the ordinary landscape as they follow the usual path of technology,” replied Elizabeth Albrycht, a senior lecturer in marketing and communications at the Paris School of Business. “First we see it, then it becomes invisible as it integrates into the landscape itself.”
David Organ, CEO of Dotsub commented, “The progressive availability of more and more robust AI systems, with deeper predictive power and broader contextual understanding will make them almost invisible. It will be natural to talk to computers of any shape, and expect them to understand the words, and the meaning, and to establish a dialog leading rapidly to the desired goal.”
Seamless Integration
The fact that the invisible technologies of the future may be doing jobs currently held by human beings is not lost on many industry professionals, echoes the Pew Research Center survey.
“By 2025, robots/AI will start to become background noise in the day-to-day lives of people in the post-industrial world Machines will start to exist in our social space the way that low-paid laborers do now: visible but ignored. We’ll know they’re there [and] we’ll interact with them, but they will less and less often be seen as noticeable” comments Jamais Cascio, a writer and futurist specializing in possible futures scenario outcomes.
It’s always nice to see concrete examples of AI in action instead of what-if scenarios, but for my guess is that the evolution of robotics will occur so seamlessly we won’t even realize it’s happened.
